Trip Dates: May 27-June 3, 2006

No problems with flights from St. Louis to Provo via Atlanta on Delta. It took about an hour to get thru immigration & customs, then off to find our rental car in the parking lot and drive over to Caicos Cafe. We rented Le Salamandre house in Leeward. The owners of the house also own and operate Caicos Cafe Bar & Grill. The house was nice and quiet with a small pool, and a short path to the beach with chairs under the trees on the water across from Mangrove Cay. We were just south of the very NE corner of Provo, we took wonderful walks on the beach everyday. We loved the morning visits from the cat and Ollie, the large pink parrot (? not sure if technically he's a parrot or some other type of bird, but very friendly!). The resident dogs kept pretty much to themselves, but we pet them when they visited us a couple of times.

We generally had breakfasts and lunches at the house and ate out for dinner. Dinners ranged from very casual, Calico Jacks, Tiki-Hut and Sharkbite, to nicer and more expensive dinners at Caicos Cafe and Magnolia. Good meals everywhere, however, we were disappointed with dinner at Magnolia despite the great view. For the price, we expected something better than what we had. I sent my steak back since it was entirely overdone the first time (ordered it medium). I noticed a woman at a table next to us also sent her steak back. Perhaps just a off night, it happens. We had very good dinners at Caicos Cafe - went back Friday night after a great dinner on Wednesday.

Weather was a bit cloudier and rainier than we have experienced in the past during that time of year in the Caribbean, but hey, we're not complaining! The beaches were great, just as they were in 2001 on our first visit to Provo. We ventured out to Malcolm Beach again, and we were thrilled to see it's still glorious, albeit the road is still just as bad as it was in 2001! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> I understand the new resort out there is very expensive. We wondered whether the resort guests (spending US$ 1500/night) had to traverse the same road we did! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

We spent one morning snorkeling with Big Blue Unlimited, had a very nice trip with snorkeling stops at three areas along the reef. Saw some squid, lots of fish and great sea fans, a nurse shark on the bottom, etc. We also snorkeled White House Reef off of Coral Gardens, saw a nice turtle and big fish even though it was pretty cloudy (both above and below water) when we were there.

Trip back home was uneventful with a long layover in Atlanta. Overall, we had a nice, relaxing trip, too short as usual. One week is just not enough time for vacation. We'll go back again someday, but we may stay on one of the other islands for a change (North Caicos? Middle Caicos?). As usual, we're planning our next trip, it may be back to Anegada in 2007! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Banana.gif" alt="" />

ClearBlueH2O